he prospered for three years, then bought an elevator at
Cook, Nebraska, but shortly afterward sold and went to
Lincoln and bought barber shop privileges in the Lincoln
Hotel. He disposed of his interests there eighteen months
later, traded his property for a store at Havelock, which he
moved to Glenrock. These changes were made for excellent
business reasons but Mr. Gordon was too honest a man to make
a financial success out of any of them at someone else's
expense, and when he sold his interest at Glenrock and went
to Graf, in Johnson county, his entire capital in money was
just fifty dollars. He had the good name, however, which
gave him credit, and enabled him to again embark in the
mercantile business and from the very beginning he prospered
and during the next seven years he settled all his
obligations and did an excellent business.
About that time Mr. Gordon decided to try
ranch life and traded his store for a ranch on which he
lived for four years and then traded the ranch for a farm of
eighty acres in Scotts Bluff county, later bought a hundred
and twenty acres in Morrill county and another farm in
Scottsbluff county comprising eighty-eight acres, all
valuable land. In 1915, Mr. Gordon came to Scottsbluff,
where he occupies one of the most attractive residences of
the city, and embarked in the real estate business with
Charles McElroy. That partnership continued a year, when the
firm name became Gordon & Osborn, and two years later,
Mr. Gordon, with Mr. Douglass as a partner, organized the
Gordon Realty Company. They own an entire subdivision and
are selling lots to responsible people and building houses
of modern style of construction.
In 1894, Mr. Gordon was united in marriage
to Miss Cora Belle Cook, who was born in North Carolina, a
daughter of Columbus L. Cook, who came to Nemaha county,
Nebraska, in 1890, where the mother of Mrs. Gordon died. Her
father then returned to North Carolina and died there. The
following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon; Mable,
William A., Charles, Mary, Grace, Bessie, Raymond and
Harold. The older daughters live at home and the younger
children are yet in school. The two older sons, William A.
and Charles, have but recently been honorably discharged
from military service in the World War, the former with rank
of orderly sergeant and the latter sergeant major. William
A., was a member of the One Hundred and twenty-seventh
Artillery and was with the first contingent of the American
Expedtionary (sic) Force to land in France. Charles A. was
also in the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Field Artillery
from the first, but while in training at Fort Sill was
injured and sent to the hospital. Both sons in their conduct
and service, reflected credit on their parents and country.
Mr. Gordon and family beolng (sic) to the Methodist
Episcopal church. In politics he is a Democrat.

JOHN W. SPRACKLEN. -- An early settler
and one of the substantial and representative men of Dawes
county, is found in John W. Spracklen, whose business
activities here have covered many years, and one whose
experiences, in some ways, have been typical of a large
class of western homesteaders. Like others, Mr. Spracklen
met with unexpected difficulties, but in his case, the star
of hope was never lost sight of, and resolution and common
sense were constant companions. There was a time when, in
spite of industry and seeming exercise of good judgment, his
efforts seemed futile, but that season was lived through, a
change came and today the signature of few men in Dawes
county carries with it more financial weight.
John W. Spracklen was born at Belle
Plaine, Benton county, Iowa, August 23, 1862. His parents
were Peter and Catherine (Russell) Spracklen, natives of
Ohio and Tennessee respctively (sic). In 1852, Peter
Spracklen entered government land in Iowa and engaged in
farming in Benton county until 1878, when he moved with his
family to Pawnee county, Nebraska. During 1882, he ranged
cattle near the river, then came into Dawes county to decide
for himself concerning the value of the land to which he had
heard settlers were beginning to come. In his estimation the
prospect was favorable and he immediately hastened to the
filing office at Valentine, where his friend, John Danks, of
Long Pine joined him, and unexpectedly his son, John W.
Spracklen, who had also determined on homesteading in the
newly opened tract. Peter Spracklen had to make his way from
his range camp to his camp on the Niobrara river near
Valentine, and after the party had secured the numbers of
sections, range and town, in order to make filings, they
found so many other settlers already in the entry office,
each one demanding priority, that they spent an entire day,
going without their meals, before they secured their papers.
John W. Spracklen secured the first homestead in his
township, filing on section 29-32-49, and also, at the same
time, April 5, 1884, filed on a

662

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

timber claim on section 20, while his father filed on a
homestead and timber claim adjoining his son's entries.
Peter Spracklen resided on his Dawes
county land for some years or until his health failed, when
he began to think of a home in another climate. In younger
years he had read of the magnificent forests of Oregon and
often expressed a desire to visit them and also, if
opportunity presented, to kill a bear. So he sold his Dawes
county land and moved to Oregon and lived in the shadow of
the great trees until he had satisfied his ambition in
regard to the bear, when he returned to Belle Plaine, Iowa,
where he made his home for the rest of his life with a
daughter, his death occurring in May, 1898, when
seventy-three years old. His wife had homesteaded in Pawnee
county, Nebraska, and the children completed paying for the
land. She died in Pawnee county in 1913. They were members
of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of their nine children
six are living, John W., being the only one residing in
Nebraska.
During boyhood, John W. Spracklen attended
school during the winter months, and also was instructed by
a teacher whom he remembers with high regard, Mr. Jackson
Gunn, who still resides at Belle Plaine. He was sixteen
years old when he accompanied his parents to Nebraska and
after that rode range for a number of years every summer. A
normal, wholesome young man, as soon as he had filed on a
homestead his thoughts turned to establishing a home, and on
April 17, 1884, he was united in marriage to Dora M.
Gillmor, a daughter of John P. and Rosanna (Howe) Gillmor,
residing twelve miles north of Seneca, Kansas.
Immediately after their marriage Mr. and
Mrs. Spracklen started for the homestead, he having an old
covered wagon, and a steady old team. They did not own any
large amount of household goods but had all that seemed
actually necessary. On their way they stopped at Bradshaw to
visit cousins, then went on as far as Willow Springs where
other cousins lived and there Mrs. Spracklen was taken ill.
During the two weeks that she was sick Mr. Spracklen plowed
corn land for his cousin. They then resumed, their journey
and when they reached Long Pine came up with Mr. Spracklen's
brother, who had become uneasy because of their delay, his
father also coming in from the homestead with an oxteam.
After all had finally reached the homestead locality, they
spent a day and a half before they were able to identify the
land, not being familiar with the method of the early
surveyors who marked section lines with pitch sticks. Only a
few years ago Mr. Spracklen found one of these old sticks
still remaining on one of his ranches.
Mr. Spracklen immediately broke up five
acres on the homestead and the same amount on, his tree
claim, got in crops and watched them give promise of
abundant yield, only to have them all destroyed by the range
cattle. In the second year the government issued orders to
the cattle rangers that led to the removal of the cattle to
the north side of White river and later on still farther
west. Mr. Spracklen and family received their mail at the
Half Diamond-E ranch, on Chadron creek. They lived on the
homestead for five years, proved up and then immediately
borrowed a thousand dollars on it and bought relinquishments
on adjoining land. This proved poor policy as the crops
failed and he was not able to meet the interest on the loan,
then surrendered his deed to a loan agent who also secured a
judgment against him for eighty-five dollars. For six years
he and his family then lived on a pre-emption and during
that time dug two wells but neither afforded a sufficiency
of water. About this time someone contested his tree claim,
and while he won the court case it cost him money and
anxiety and it was eighteen months before he was assured of
his right by the land office.
During the first summer the Spracklens
lived in their wagon, but in the fall built a log house,
after which came a large amount of trouble in sinking a
well. Like many other homesteaders Mr. Spracklen found it
desirable to work for wages when jobs could be secured, and
he remembers breaking land for five dollars an acre, when
his wife had to accompany him to drive the team while he cut
a road through the brush. The present highway follows very
closely the original passage made by Mr. Spracklen on Dead
Horse Creek. Did space permit, it would be interesting to
follow these hardy and courageous settlers through those
early days and note how patiently and resourcefully they met
and overcame the hundred little annoyances and the losses
that were important only because there were no near
neighbors to help out, or supply depots where lost articles
could readily be replaced.
As indicated, Mr. Spracklen lost his
homestead and pre-emption. In 1896, he went to Sioux county
and traded his herd of horses for the William Young farm and
made money in handling horses and cattle there, but lost
through unfortunate investments and then re-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

663

turned to Dawes county, where he bought his brother-in-law's
homestead for two hundred and fifty dollars, a tract that
had seventy acres of land already broken and a house that
had cost five hundred dollars. He lived there two years,
then bought for two hundred and fifty dollars, on a
five-year time, a quarter of his father's old homestead, and
additional property, giving a mortgage on his timber claim
and the homestead he had bought. In the next year he bought
two hundred and forty acres for eight hundred dollars,
continuing to buy one tract after another, raising rye and
cattle in the meantime to meet his payments, and by 1908,
was one of the largest landowners in the county. His
financial good management, brought about by foresight,
surprised his friends who did not have as supreme faith in
the value of Dawes county land as he has had. It is a matter
of satisfaction to Mr. Spracklen that he has made good on
every deal for the past twenty-five years. Today he values
his land at a hundred dollars an acre, and has refused one
hundred and twenty-five dollars for land he purchased for
seventeen and a half dollars. In addition to his farms and
ranches, he has a hundred and five head of registered
Shorthorn cattle, two hundred head of hogs and a handsome
modern residence at Chadron. He is a stockholder in the
Chadron State Bank and a director and also a dircetor (sic)
in the Farmers Union Store Company.
A family of eleven children has been born
to Mr. and Mrs. Spracklen, of whom the following survive:
John P., who is a rancher on Dead Horse creek, Dawes county,
married Harriet Whitehead and they have three children,
Ralph L., John W. and Harry; Leonora M., who is the wife of
A. A. Vannatta, of Chadron, and they have four children,
Blanche M. Lawrence A., Lester and an infant; Clement A.,
who is a rancher on White river; Delinda P., who is the wife
of Lloyd Robbins, a rancher on Dead Horse creek, and they
have one child, Evelyn K.; Sadie M., who is the wife of
Walter Owens, living on White river, and they have two
children, Rosalie and Dora J.; and Frank E., Roy W., Nellie
A. and Mildred L. Mrs. Spracklen belongs to the Royal
Neighbors, and Mr. Spracklen to the Modern Woodmen of
America. In politics he is a Republican but has never been
willing to accept political offce (sic).
CHARLES C. NELSON, who is a highly
regarded citizen of Bridgeport, where he has lived retired
since 1912, is a man of large capital and formerly an
extensive raiser of cattle. Mr. Nelson is well known in
other sections of the country, for he started out a youth
with but little means and sought and found work wherever he
could make his industry profitable. Thus, unassisted, he
built up his ample fortune through his own efforts.
Charles C. Nelson was born in Virginia,
July 17, 1849. His parents were James A. and Margaret A.
(Trimmier) Nelson, both of whom were born in Ireland. They
came to the United States in 1838 and settled in Virginia.
He was a soldier in the Union army in the Civil War, served
three years and was wounded in the hand at the battle of
Springfield, Missouri. Mr. Nelson settled in Missouri in
1861, and after the war returned to his farm and died there.
The mother of Mr. Nelson came later to Nebraska and died at
Sidney. There were but two sons born in the family, John and
Charles C., the former of whom was accidentally killed when
a small boy. James A. Nelson was a man of importance in
Henry county, Missouri, at one time owning land there and
serving on the board of county commissioners. He was a
Republican in his political views and both he and wife were
members of the Episcopal church. The paternal grandfather of
Mr. Nelson, James Nelson, brought his family to the United
States in 1838, and settled in Virginia but later
accompanied his son and family to Missouri and died there.
The maternal grandfather, Joseph Trimmier, was born in
Ireland but died in Scotland.
Charles C. Nelson had district school
opportunities in Missouri. He remained at home assisting his
father until he was nineteen years of age, then started out
for himself and finally reached Texas, where he went to work
on a stock ranch and remained ten years. In 1879, he came to
Nebraska and went to work on a ranch in old Cheyenne county,
invested his earnings in land and in the course of time had
it well stocked and continued in the cattle business for
many years afterward. He still owns nine hundred and sixty
acres in Nebraska. Additionally he has important oil
interests in Oklahoma and is a director of the Wyoming
Refininig (sic) Company. He is a man of fine business
judgment.
In 1874, Mr. Nelson was united in marriage
to Miss Alice Clark, who died in 1885, leaving two children;
Fredonia, who is the wife of John Clowges, a ranchman near
Bridgeport, and Margaret, who is the wife of Albert Cuddy,
living in Montana. Mr. Nelson was married a second time in
1909, to Miss Lillian Franklin, who was born at Eureka
Springs,

664

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

Arkansas. Mrs. Nelson is a member of the Baptist church.
Throughout his whole political life Mr. Nelson has been a
Republican and sees no reason to change his opinions at the
present time. He has served as school treasurer and school
director but otherwise has never consented to accept public
office. He belongs to the Masonic lodge at Bridgeport.

JAMES A. GAINES. -- Shrewd business
ability, special adaptiveness to his calling, appreciation
of its many advantages and belief in his own power to
succeed placed James A. Gaines among the foremost and
substantial merchants of Bridgeport. From his small
beginnings, his efforts brought forth the development or
(sic) large interests, permitting his retirement in 1917,
and his consigning to younger hands the tasks that made up
the sum of his existence for many years. He has a modern
home at Bridgeport and is regarded as one of the financially
strong and morally high retired citizens of his
community.
Mr. Gaines was born at Lexington,
Illinois, March 3, 1859, a son of James and Fannie
(Shotwell) Gaines, natives of old Virginia. They were
married in their native state, and subsequently moved to
Illinois, where, in the vicinity of Lexington, James Gaines,
who was the son of a Virginia planter and former slave
owner, carried on successful agricultural operations until
his death in 1915. He was a self-made man in every respect,
and one who won the confidence of his fellow men through a
display of integrity and good citizenship, and was a
Democrat in his political adherence. He and Mrs. Gaines, who
survives him and still resides at Lexington, held membership
in the United Brethren church. They were the parents of four
children: Bert, who was for thirty-four years been in the
service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad,
and is a resident of Hastings, Nebraska; Mrs. Sarah Gray,
the wife of a painter of Illinois; James A., of this review;
and William E., who for years was a partner of J. L. Miller
at Bridgeport, but is now engaged in the coal business at
Greeley, Colorado.
James A. Gaines obtained his educational
training through attendance at the public schools of
Lexington, Illinois, and grew up in the atmosphere of the
home farm, where for some years he was engaged in assisting
his father in the latter's extensive operations. Desiring a
career of his own, in 1899, he came to Nebraska to make his
permanent home, and here embarked in the mercantile business
at Bridgeport. His opening venture was a modest one, but he
possessed the necessary qualifications for the acquirements
of success, and it was not long ere he enlarged the scope of
his operations. When he had his Bridgeport business
operating upon a handsomely paying basis, he started
branches at Bayard, Morrill and Minatare, all of which he
developed into successful commercial houses. He also secured
a concession at City Park, Denver, which he conducted for
three years, and which yielded his handsome returns for his
foresight and labor. He established a reputation for
integrity, veracity and probity, which gave him an excellent
standing in business circles, and this standing has also
held good in the matter of citizenship for he has always
been a hearty supporter of good measures. His faith in the
future of Nebraska, has been evidenced in his purchase of
two irrigated farms, which he still retains and the
operations on which he supervises. In 1917, he sold his
store property and retired from active business pursuits,
content with the material compensation which he had been
able to lay aside during the years of his business
activity.
Mr. Gaines was married in 1910, to Miss
Olive E. Millhollin, who was born in Iowa, a daughter of
Hugh Millhollin, who came to Bridgeport in 1889, and for
many years was engaged in the carpenter trade. Three
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs., Gaines: Leland,
aged nine years; Kathryn, aged seven years; and Linden, aged
five years. Mr. Gaines is a Democrat in his political views,
but not a politician. His fraternal affiliaton (sic) is with
the Modern Woodmen of America, and he has numerous friends
in the local lodge, as he has also in business circles.

RICHARD L. HOFFMAN was born in Missouri
on December 30, 1860, the son of Benjamin Franklin and Susan
I. Hoffman. Both his parents were natives of Kentucky, and
their family consisted of five children, of whom three are
living. A son, William, and a daughter, Sallie B., are
deceased. Another daughter, Susan E., now Mrs. William Lane,
lives in Kansas City, Missouri, as does the youngest son,
Frank. The father was a farmer by occupation. He died in
1862, and the mother followed him to the grave in 1865.
Richard was educated in the Missouri
schools, and after finishing his schooling he took up
railroading and followed that calling for a number of years.
As the great opportunities of the new west began to be
known, and the younger spirits who are always attracted by
adventure began to follow the advice